The Supreme Gift and the Stigma Attached
In the beginning of Creation there was one common soul: the Light (pleasure) and the corresponding body (desire), Adam. These were merged in adhesion with the Creator, and therefore received maximum delight. The soul’s nature is merely the will to receive pleasure, and the soul was filled with pleasure in accordance with its desire.
However, once having received pleasure, the soul sensed shame. In our world, everyone who receives a gift or favor feels the same way. Once it had felt a burning shame, corresponding to the received pleasure, the soul discovered that the only way to be rid of it was to stop enjoying the pleasure.
How Reception Distances Spirituality and Keeps Us on the Run
The soul that receives for its own sake is opposite from the Giver in its intention and spiritual action. The greater the pleasure it selfishly receives, the greater its opposition to the Creator. The extent of the sense of shame depends on the person’s spiritual development. Only this feeling keeps us constantly within limits and compels us to observe the laws of the society. The same sensation underlies our aspirations for knowledge, wealth, recognition by society, and honor.
The Day Reception Overpowered Bestowal & the Explosive Result
However, since the Creator’s desire was to delight the soul, the soul agreed to accept this delight—not for its own sake, but only for the sake of the Creator. However, since the common soul could not instantly overcome its natural desire to enjoy for its own sake (that is how great it was!), it was shattered into myriad fragments (souls). These fragments were easier to work on, to neutralize the selfish will to enjoy.
How to Get it Together for Good
What separates spiritual objects is not space, but their spiritual incongruence and dissimilarity of properties. Therefore, the number of souls, meaning separate spiritual objects, determines the number of people in the physical world.
Closeness is determined by how much pleasure the soul receives for the sake of the Creator. The will to receive instinctively acts within us, but our desire to rid ourselves of shame and to enjoy for the Creator’s sake originates within us. Therefore, the desire to rid oneself of shame and to enjoy for the Creator’s sake requires special and continuous effort.
A Failproof Method to Receive Anything without Shame
Consider an example from our world. The more pleasure a child receives from eating food, such as “eating for Mommy,” the more delight it gives its parent. The child receives great pleasure from pleasing Mommy. In a similar way, we should constantly control the amount of pleasure we receive in order to make certain that we enjoy only for the Creator’s sake.
Since no distance exists in the spiritual world, and proximity is determined by the similarity of actions and thoughts (affinity, love), souls that receive “for the Creator’s sake” are close to Him because they please each other, just like a mother and her child.
“The Secret to Receiving Everything with No Strings Attached” is based on the book, Basic Concepts in Kabbalah: Expanding Your Inner Vision by Dr. Michael Laitman.
Image by Stewardship - Transforming Generosity.
